Vending-machine.



W. F. ABLETT. VENDING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED 4PB. 1 1.1910. 973,332, Patented Oct. 18, 1910,

2 BHEETSBHEET 1.

= Is' llnr l lI I II II MA- 1 I 32 i 46 31, 2.2 21 1 57 17 20 v 2. if 24I 25 JQ W. F. ABLETT.

VENDING MACHINE.

'APPLIOATION FILED AIR. 14,1910.

Patented Oct. 18, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVENTOR #5 WILLIAM E.

ABLE'ET, G1 PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

VENDING-MACHINE.

erases.

Application filed April 1%, 1910.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that T, VILLIAM l frnnnrr, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at littsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful improvements inVending-Machines, of which the following is a specification, referencebeing had therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to a vending machine, and the object of myinvention is to provide a coin-controlled machine for vending anddispensing small packages and papers, as packages or papers of variouskinds of pins, the vending machine being particularly designed for usein dry goods departments of stores, depots, hotels and public places.

My invention aims to provide a machine of the above type wherein asimple and inexpensive mechanism is employed for releasing anddelivering articles, the mecha nism being positive in its action,durable, easy to manipulate, and highly ellicient for the purposes forwhich it is employed.

To this end, I provide a suitable casing with compartments inwhich arearranged the articles to be vencled, the articles being positionedwhereby they will feed by gravity to such a point that the mechanismcontained within the casing will eject the same. The mechanism employedfor this purpose is controlled through the medium of a coin mechanism,whereby it will be impossible to manually actuate the mechanism unlessthe coin is deposited in the machine.

To the foregoing and other useful ends, the invention consists in thematter to be hereinafter specifically described and claimed.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is a front elevation of the vendingmachine. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view taken throughone of the article compartments thereof. Fig. 3 is a similar view takenthrough one of the coin cmnpartments thereof. l ig. is a horizontalsectional view of the machine taken on the line ma2 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 isa perspective view of a portion of the machine, and his". 6 is avertical transverse sectional view of a portion of the machine.

To put my invention into practice, 1 provide a suitable casingcomprising a bottom plate 1, a rear wall 2, side walls 3, a front walla, and a hinged lid or cover 5, the lid Specification of Letters Fatent.

Patented Get. 18, 1910.

Serial No. 555,3 l l.

or cover being hinged to the upper edge of the rear wall 2, as at 6. Thecasing can be made of wood or any suitable material. The front wall a isprovided with two Vertical openings "Z and the material bordering uponthe inner edges of said openings is cut away to form a seat 8 fortransverse plates 9, preferably made of celluloid or vitreous material.

Secured to the inner side of the front wall l by screws 10 orotherfastening means is a metallic rectangular frame 11 provided with twovertical and rectangular shells 12 forming compartments 13 for thearticles adapted to be vended by the machine. The shells 12 are formedintegral with the frame 11 and the front walls of said shells areprovided with vertical openings 14 adapted to aline with the openings 7of the front wall 4:, the material surrounding the openings 14 being cutaway, as at 15, to provide clearance for the transparent plates 9. It isthrough the medium of these plates that the contents of the'compartments13 can be observed and the compartments replenished before being finallyexhausted of their contents. The compartments 13 can contain variouskinds of packages and articles, and as the mechanism used in connectionwith the compartments are identical, I deem it only necessary to referto one of said con1- partments and the mechanism used in connectiontltierewith.

The shell 12 has the lower end thereof provided with side enlargements16 and these enlargements are provided with longitudinal confrontinggrooves 17 for a crosshead 18. An additional enlargement 19 is locatedat the rear side of the shell and provided with a slot 20, whereby thecross-head 18 can be easily placed in the groove 17 and suitableconnections made therewith, as will presently appear.

The side wall 3 has the inner sides thereof provided with a longitudinalintegral barrel 21 for plunger 22 extending through front "all 4-. andsaid barrel, said plunhaving the rear end thereof offset andT'UTCZllZQCl, as at 23, while the forward end .ounted upon the baseplate 1 at the rear end of the shell is a post 25 and pivotally mountedupon the upper end of said post by a pin is an angle lever 27 having theends thereof slotted, as at 28 and 29. Pivotally connected to the lever2'? through the medium of a pin 30 extending through the slot 19 is theoff-set bifurcated end 23 of the plunger 22. Pivotally connected to thelever 27 through the medium of a pin 31 extending through the slot 28are the rearwardly projecting lugs 32 of the crosshead 18. Pivotallyconnected to the lever 27 adjacent to the slot 28 is a rod 33 adapted toslide through a bearing 34 provided therefor upon the base plate 1. Thefree end of the rod 33 is adapted to engage the end 35 of an arm 36pivoted upon the upper end of the post- 37 carried by the base plate 1.The opposite end of the arm 36 is connected by a retractile spring 3'7"to the rear wall 2, and this end of the rod is adapted to engage thebeveled and toothed end of an arm 38 fulcrumed upon the outer end of abracket 39 carried by the side wall 3. The rear end of the arm 38 isprovided with a beveled surface 41, while the forward end thereof isprovided with a depending tooth 42 adapted to engage a lug 43 carried bythe lever 27.

Pivotally connected to the forward end of the arm 38 is a vertical rod44 having the upper end thereof pivotally connected, as at 45, to therear end of a coin arm 46, said arm being fulcrumed, as at 47, upon abearing 48 carried by the rear side of the shell 12. The forward end ofthe arm 46 extends into the upper open end of a coin tray 49 suitablysecured, as at 50, to the side wall 3. The forward end of the arm 46 isenlarged, as at 51, and extends beneath the lower end of an inclinedcoin chute 52 carried by the inner side of the front wall 4, the coinchute communicating with a vertical slot 53 provided therefor in thewall 4. The lever 27 adjacent to the slot 28 thereof is connected by aretractile spring 54 to a lug 55, carried by the inner side of the rearWall 2.

The lower end of the compartment 13 is adapted to communicate with ahorizontal slot 56 provided therefor in the front wall 4, whereby thecontents of the compartment 13 can be discharged. By opening the lid orcover 5 of the casing easy access is had to the compartments 13 and thetrays 49 whereby the compartments 13 can be filled with articles orpackages, the articles or packages being placed one upon the other, asbest shown in Fig. 6, and the coins can be easily removed from the trays49. rissuming that the compartments 13 have been filled and the machineis in condition for use, the manner of obtaining an article from eitherof the compartments 13 is as follows :lVhen a coin is deposited in theslot 53 and passes through the chute 52, the weight of the coin tiltsthe coin arm 46 allowing the coin to drop into the tray 49. The tiltingcoin arm will raise the forward end of the arm 38 and move the toot-h 42out of engagement with the lug43 of the lever 27, thus allowing theplunger 22 to be pushed inwardly uitil the button or knob 24 engages thefront wall of the casing. An inward movement of the plunger 22 shiftsthe crosshead 18 forwardly within the compartment 13, thus forcing oneof the articles or packages into the slot the end of the article orpackage protruding sufficiently, as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings Loallow the article or package to be gripped and withdrawn from the slot.l hen the cross-head 18 is moved forwardly the rod 33 slides in thebearing 34 and releases the arm 36, and through the medium of theretractile spring 37 the end of the arm engages the beveled surface 41of the arm 38 and restores said arm to its normal position, with thecoin arm 46 in a horizontal position ready to be again actuated by acoin deposited in the machine. lVhen the plunger 22 is released theretractile spring 54 restores the lever 27 to its normal position andthe rod 33 holds the arm 36, but the plunger cannot be pushed in wardlysince the lug 43 bears against the tooth 42.

It is thought that the operation and utility of the vending machine isapparent from the foregoing, and while in the drawings there isillustrated a preferredembodiment of the invention, it is to beunderstood that the structural elements thereof can be varied orchanged, as to the size, shape, and manner of assemblage withoutdeparting from the scope of invention.

Vhat I claim, is:

1. In a vending machine, the combination with a casing having the frontwall thereof provided with a slot, a hinged lid carried by said casing,a shell arranged within said casing and providing a compartment forarticles adapted to be ejected through the slot of said casing, across-head movably mounted in said shell and adapted to move articlesinto the slot of said casing, an angle lever slidingly pivoted adjacentone end thereof to said cross head, a plunger extending into said casingand slidingly pivoted to said lever at the opposite end of the lever, avertically fulcrumed arm arranged within said casing and adapted to locksaid lever against movement by said plunger, and a horizontallyfulcrumed arm arranged within said casing and adapted to move the lastmentioned arm into locking position.

2. In a vending machine, the combination with a casing having the frontwall thereof provided with a slot, a hinged lid carried by said casing,a shell arranged within said casing and providing a compartment forarticles adapted to be ejected through the slot of said casing, across-head movably mounted in said shell and adapted to move articlesinto the slot of said casing, an angle lever slidingly pivoted adjacentone end thereof to said cross head, a plunger extending into said casingand slidingly pivoted to said lever at the opposite end of the lever, avertically fulcrumed arm arranged Within said casing and adapted to locksaid lever against movement by said plunger, a horizontally fulcrumedarm arranged Within said casing and adapted to move the last mentionedarm into looking position, a rod pivoted to the lever at a pointadjacent one end thereof and the point of pivotal connection of thelever with the cross-head, a bearing bracket carried by the casing, saidrod slidable through said bearing and an end thereof adapted to slidablycontact the side of the horizontal 15 arm, a means for releasing saidlocking arm, and means Within said casing adapted to restore said lever,plunger, horizontal arm and cross-head to their normal positions.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature 20 in the presence of twoWitnesses.

VILLIAM F. ABLETT.

lVitnesses:

K. H. BUTLER, J. L. STEPHANY.

